Friday, February 12, 2010

Boston Is Not a Hot Dog Kind of Town

When I lived in Germany, I never once ate or even thought about eating hot dogs -- even though I actually knew a place where I could get them. It just didn't seem right when I ate sausages (mm, bockwurst, so yummy, so hard to order correctly*) all the time. In the few months I've been back in the U.S., I've found that I've been thinking more and more about the meals I had at Sammy's when I was finishing up my thesis: hot dog, fries, milkshake (~$7). But, apparently, Boston is not a hot dog kind of town. Not a milkshake kind of town either. Admittedly I don't live in a greasy spoon kind of neighborhood, but there's a (at least) pizza joint on every corner (often burgers, but no milkshakes, no hot dogs). So I don't know where to get a hot dog -- let alone a Chicago dog. I don't even know where to find a good diner. Thinking about hot dogs and Sammy's makes me think about going to Salonica's and having breakfast. I miss that too.

* Bockwurst digression: Words like 'bockwurst' and 'Bonn' are not easy for an American to say correctly in German. Yes, that's right, I lived there for three years and never pronounced the name of the city I lived in correctly. When I tried to say 'Bonn' (more correctly, it should come out more like 'bun' than 'bon'), the person I was speaking to would say 'Bern? In Switzerland?' Ordering bockwurst was nearly impossible. For all but a handful of times, I was served a bratwurst. And I'd sigh. And then I'd eat the bratwurst because -- hello! -- it's bratwurst.

7 comments:

t said...

Mmmm, Salonica's...

Doug Rudd said...

Snail crispy pad thai :)

Jackie said...

Doug - Is that something you got in Chicago or something I should look for in Boston?

Doug Rudd said...

Sorry for the lack of context, that's the Snail on 55th St and the meal that got me through thesis-writing (the rate of 1 order/page wouldn't be too far off). Also the downtown Intelligentsia.

Jackie said...

Ah, right, the Snail. Nice. Not comfort food, but I also miss the plantain nachos and jerk chicken wings at Calypso.

t said...

Yay Snail! Spent a lot of time there when we lived on that block. For some forgotten reason I actually own a Snail t-shirt. I was wearing it one day on the observation deck of the Rockefeller Center in NYC when some random hyde parker came up to me and started gushing about their food - probably the crispy pad thai.

Eugene said...

ah yes, Sammy's.